Thursday, September 08, 2011

GOP Debate: Ron Paul and Rick Perry do battle, with Paul besting the field

...With a quadruple hit on issues of mandatory inoculations, dictatorial-style executive orders, support for Al Gore, and support for Hillarycare, Ron Paul may have been the only candidate to strike political blood in the quick and seamless political ascendancy of Perry's short presidential campaign.

Moreover, Paul is becoming central to the GOP primary race. Paul, who is polling in the 9-13 percent range in national polls (and stronger in early primary states), generally places third in polls after Perry and Romney. But his ideas continue to exert a gravitational pull on the race. During the same debate Newt Gingrich called for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to be fired, and Rick Perry used the phrase "Keynesian economics," implying its failures have tainted its adherents permanently. Both have been Ron Paul shibboleths for years, if not decades, but have become household terms since the housing bubble collapsed in 2007-08...MORE...LINK